The Islanders will take what positives they will get proper now, with their season on the cusp of ending after a messy, 7-6 loss in extra time to the Predators on Tuesday.
Simon Holmstrom, who reached 20 targets in a season for the primary time with a career-best four-point night time on Tuesday, could be someplace close to the highest of that listing.
“I assumed he was our greatest participant tonight,” Jean-Gabriel Pageau mentioned following the sport. “He was skating properly. Defending the puck properly, profitable his battles, and he was competing the entire sport. I used to be comfortable for him to see a pair go in. He’s working extraordinarily laborious.”
On an evening when the Islanders regarded checked out for the period, Holmstrom stood out as an exception.
He was a risk on the push and off the cycle, assisted Maxim Tsyplakov from behind the web and Scott Mayfield shorthanded.
As has been the case all season, his chemistry with Pageau was evident, as he simply completed a backhand feed from No. 44 to attain within the second interval.
“I’ll say the Pageau line was actually good,” coach Patrick Roy mentioned. “To me, that’s the constructive of the sport. That line gave us an opportunity to be in that sport. And regardless of the very fact we didn’t have our greatest night time, I assumed these guys performed very well.”
An increasing number of as this season has progressed, the 23-year-old Swede appears like a key a part of the Islanders’ future.
His sport has developed far past the defense-first fashion that marked his first two seasons within the league, when the Islanders had been continuously imploring Holmstrom to shoot extra whereas lauding his two-way sport.
He’s been a fixture within the prime six since late February and hasn’t missed a beat, notably because the Brock Nelson commerce, which enabled Holmstrom to pair again up with Pageau as his heart.
There’s sufficient questions round what the Islanders will do that summer time that it’s not clear whether or not Holmstrom will stick in that position subsequent season.
If he’s again on the third line, nevertheless, it could be a luxurious for the Islanders.
Although the regulation-wins tiebreaker would nonetheless technically be in play, the Islanders could be de facto eradicated with a loss to the Rangers on Thursday at UBS Enviornment.
The Rangers have crushed the Islanders all thrice the 2 groups have performed this season, by a mixed rating of 14-3.
